Cinema, Landscape and the Atlantic: Imaginaries, Territories and Representations

The creation of the landscape genre in the eighteenth century was the result of a profound transformation of social, economic, and cultural relations. It not only reflects this change through the images it represents, but also simultaneously shapes vision by establishing a particular conception of what comes to be understood as landscape. In other words, the represented landscape is both the product of a specific condition and a force that shapes the relationship between humans and nature through the type of representation it disseminates. Landscape, as a medium that establishes a relationship between the visible and the represented, cannot ignore the pivotal role occupied by the spectator in this process. Consequently, landscape may also be understood as a mechanism of communication and identification, or identity. Landscape is a place in which we recognize ourselves and with which we identify.

The notion of landscape, far from being merely a reflection of nature or external reality, is a cultural construct shaped by codes, conventions, and perspectives that mould the perception and representation of space. In contemporary contexts, landscape re-emerges with a discursive density that questions not only what we see, but also how we see.

This conference is part of an initiative co-organised by CIAC and the Centre for Galician Studies, with the support of the International Association of Galician Studies.

Call for Papers

This Call for Papers invites researchers, artists, curators, and students to submit paper proposals that critically explore landscape as an aesthetic, cultural, and political category in cinema, with particular attention to:

• cinemas connected to Galicia;
• the Atlantic Ocean as a geographical, historical, and symbolic space;
• cinemas of the Iberian Peninsula and Ibero-American countries.

The aim is to bring together contributions that examine landscape not merely as a backdrop or setting, but as a visual and symbolic construction, an expression of identity and belonging, and a mediating device between the visible, the represented, and the imagined. Cinema, as an artistic and cultural practice, has played a central role in shaping ways of seeing, inhabiting, and representing territories, revealing tensions between nature and culture, memory and modernity, centre and periphery, exploitation and preservation.

Proposals that address, among others, the following themes will be particularly valued:

• Landscape as an artistic genre and its influence on cinema and the arts;
• Cinematic modernity and the historical configuration of the gaze;
• Urban and rural landscape: transformations of the territory and new ways of inhabiting space;
• Audiovisual media, landscape, memory, and cultural identity;
• Landscape as a language and mechanism of artistic communication;
• Processes of perception, representation,n and construction of landscape in cinema and other arts;
• Ecocritical approaches: landscape, ecology,y and environmental issues in cinema and other arts;
• Relationships between landscape and architecture in cinema;
• Audiovisual media, landscape and tourism: circulation of images, territories and imaginaries;
• The relationship between landscape, sound, and music in audiovisual media.

Submission Guidelines

Interested participants should submit:

• An abstract (200–300 words);
• A short biographical note (up to 150 words).

Submissions must be made exclusively through the Submission Form available on the Colloquium website.

Submission Form

Selection Process and Participation

All proposals will undergo a scientific evaluation process.

After notification of acceptance, speakers must confirm their participation by completing the Presenter Registration Form, available on the Colloquium website.

Publication

Speakers will be invited to submit the full paper by 10 October 2026. All submitted articles will be subject to peer review, with a view to publication in the journal Madrygal. Revista de Estudios Gallegos.

Accepted Languages

Portuguese, Galician, English, French, and Spanish.

Important Dates

• Abstract submission deadline: 16 February – 15 May 2026
• Notification of acceptance: by 15 June 2026
• Colloquium dates: 10–11 September 2026
• Full paper submission deadline: 10 October 2026
• Publication: December 2026

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Organization

Support

This conference is financed by national funds through FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P., in the framework of projects «UID/04019/2025 – CIAC» DOI: 10.54499/UID/04019/2025 and «UID/PRR/04019/2025» DOI: 10.54499/UID/PRR/04019/2025

Esta publicação também está disponível em: Portuguese (Portugal)